Turbo Takeout Dev Diary Thread

APRIL 22, 2024

TLDR: Showcase week! See our game and many others at 494showcase.com

Our team portfolios:

Adamgunn.github.io

Aareyn.github.io

Ellaaf.github.io

Kjanuska.github.io

Karl-xu-yan.github.io

This week we mainly focused on cosmetic improvements and bug fixes. We added several new hat and trail options, and the ability to change skin color. We added an outline to the player so that they can see themself more easily. Our bug fixes included the tutorial being unplayable and the lack of borders on levels. We made improvements to abilities as well - we added a tipping-enhanced ability and an ability that drops oil splatters on the ground. We nerfed the stacking ability so the player slows down more and more with more orders stacked. Beyond that, we modified a lot of values in order to try to re-balance the game: shorter stun duration, shorter order flash time, reworking the reviews calculations, and more frequent spawn rates for orders. We added a new level - "Fowl Fountain" - with ducks and hotdog stands, and added unique names for all the existing levels. We made UI improvements, changing the main menu, level select, and time's up screens to all be more interesting. In the time's up screen specifically, we made improvements to ensure that it is a little more clear how the rating is calculated.

In future iterations, we want to add more abilities, hats, and levels, and add the option to play with up to four players instead of only two.

APRIL 15, 2024

TLDR:

Watch the trailer of our beta game here!

This week we spent most time working on our customization & abilities system as well as our player rating system. We refined our ready up screen and customization UI, smoothed and worked out bugs with abilities (taking play-tester feedback into account). For player rating, we updated our win screen to give a bonus to the player with a higher rating (calculated based on player/hazard collisions, delivery time, etc), and updated our customer review system to match the player's rating and to flesh out the experience of being a delivery driver. We also updated our level select screen and added locks to require a tutorial, changed our lighting system for more realism in the day/night cycle (moving sun versus light changing intensity), added a consistent character selected (permanent Player 1 and Player 2), and did some general work on various bugs + juice (sfx, etc).

We made these changes because this week we wanted to focus on expanding the game's replayablitity, and creating an engaging experience beyond the mechanics that have made up the core of the game thus far. We thought that customization is a fun way to personalize the experience for the player, as well as giving them plenty of options to play with. We thought similarly about abilities, and thought that the ability to master and specialize in one or try many, and to match up better or worse abilities against your opponent strategically would all add to the fun and interest of the game and potential play styles. For the next iteration, we are mainly planning on working on these systems even further; we are also considering some other level designs, but want to focus on the heart of the game, so we will probably divide between adding new mechanics and adding more to our existing systems based on play-tester feedback, and whether or not these new systems are intriguing to players.

APRIL 8, 2024

TLDR:

In our latest update to Turbo Takeout, we overhauled the control scheme to a more user-friendly setup and introduced a cosmetic system for bike customization. Players now receive performance-based ratings for their deliveries, which contribute to their overall player rating. Our next update will aim to enhance the abilities system, fine-tune level designs, and broaden the scope of the star review system and cosmetic choices.

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This week, we made significant changes to the game’s control scheme. Previously, we used tank controls which meant that players turned relative to themselves rather than relative to the camera. This had the unintended effect of making the controls frustratingly difficult to pick up for those unfamiliar with the scheme. Some players had lots of experience with these controls and easily defeated those who did not. The less experienced players were left struggling to understand how to do simple tasks like move from one side of the map to the other, making for an aggravating experience. We opted to use a more modern control scheme in which players only steered and moved with the joystick, relative to the camera instead of the player’s position. We feel this will make the game more enjoyable and easier to pick up for all players.We also added a new ability and cosmetic system that allows players to customize a hat on their bike and the effect shown when they dash into other players to steal orders. We have the intention of exploring unlocking different effects, but we are hoping to gain feedback during playtesting to guide us in deciding whether we should focus on making the game easy to pick up and not introducing unlockables.

In order to make our game feel more authentic to the delivery driver experience, we implemented a system to give players ratings on their order, which are aggregated into player ratings. After the match, players then receive reviews that correspond to a number of factors such as the time it took to deliver an order or the number of times the order changed hands before delivery.

Next iteration (beta), beyond addressing any playtesting feedback, we plan on further developing and balancing the abilities system, tweaking level designs, expanding the star review system, and adding more cosmetics including hats.

Feel free to access and play our builds here. Our game is intended to be played with two gamepads.

- Nitro Neon Studios

Edited by: lexarooni